American success in the return of the space shuttle "Columbia" from outer space in April 1981 and later three successful attempts confirming its practicability have affected various worldly activities. Until her rival succeeds in producing a man-carrying shuttle, she will continue to hold an unrivalled position in the space. However, on the global scale, the Soviet Union has accumulated more ICBM's than U.S.A. According to the publication of the Department of Defense of U.S.A., the following figures are given for 1981.
U.S.A.: 1,052 PA1 U.S.S.R.: 1,398
It is now realized that in order to narrow the gap of these figures, much effort is being required on the part of the former. As ground superiority is held by the latter, it is now of utmost importance for the United States to have an underground advantage over the U.S.S.R. A high speed underground transportation system will be able to cope with this situation. When the overland traffic system is damaged by ICBM attack, an underground back-up system could be deployed so that the economic activities of the country could be maintained. For this purpose, at least a speed of 500 km/h is desirable. Such speeds are possible with the systems and methods described below.